His Last Goodbye to the Night Stalker
by Pollux Unbound
Summary: The Night Stalker roams the midnight hills. One by one members of the Uchiha Clan are hacked to death. Now face to face with the mass murderer, Itachi, after seven years, Kakashi only smiles bitterly. ItaKaka. ItachixKakashi. KakaIta.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; Kishimoto does.

Dead bodies everywhere. This couldn't have been the work left behind by anyone less than a genocidal monster whose power soared beyond legendary qualities. Blood pooled the uneven ground, creating puddles uncounted, scattering the putrid scent of the dead. Mercy wasn't involved in this crime, nor was recognition, and most certainly not fear. Years later, Hatake Kakashi would harness from his memories the gruesomeness of it all and analyze all available, or possible, clues necessary to establish Itachi's innocence, if only partially. But all was over now, for Uchiha Itachi would never come back, not even as a corpse.

Seven years was all it took to turn everything around and to trace the strange path towards which his destiny moved. And he didn't believe in crap of that sort. For all he knew, nothing awaited Itachi Uchiha but the coffin.

"And so it has to take you this long to finally come."

"And what about you, seven years to finally decide it's over? You'll die here, Uchiha."

Both were geniuses, without the slightest doubt, but maybe possessing a complete pair of Sharingan had its advantages. And perhaps both knew they'd waited too long to end this particular encounter as fast as they should. For one thing, the sky was setting out for its last streak of dawn, a spectacle of ancient beauty for the beholders of old. No, Kakashi must not end it there.

"I'll die for sure. Not here, though, and most especially not now. Do you remember me, Kakashi-_sempai_?"

"Sure I do. You're this great someone who made me witness the bloodiest massacre I've ever known. Should I say thank you, _Itachi-kun_?"

"You never change. You never cared-not a goddamn hoot. What the hell am I doing here?" Itachi shook his head, feigning disappointment, a derisive smile about his lips.

"I was tormented, to say the least."

"Not tormented enough to seek me personally. I always followed you around, pretending our paths would cross only accidentally, while you remained oblivious to the fact that I could've been your shadow. I was thirteen and would go on being your shadow for years to come, even to this day."

"Well, too bad for me, because I had always thought you were the sort of genius whose mind could not be corrupted. Why are you here? If you do not wish to die in my hands, then what do you want?"

"What are you saying, sempai? I never missed coming here, just as how we never did many summers ago."

For reasons other than the ebbing of day, the wind started to grow fiercer, as if it carried an urgent message with it. In this night of all nights, Kakashi was being brought back in the days of his youth, where he and Itachi had known so much joy.

"Wise as you are, I'd have thought being The Night Stalker had been below you. At some point along the way, I noticed you came here at night on a regular basis. Only that, I never had the spirit to detain you or say a damn word to you. All I know is I'm licensed to kill you, just as much as the other Shinobi of this village are."

"The Night Stalker, a name I made for myself, is quite the title that time developed in all the years I've pined to see you. But let's forget the present for a moment here and head back to what happened seven years ago before I took off to pursue the doom assigned to me. You never sought to fathom my reasons, much less pitched me a goddamn glimpse for the last time. You just submitted your report, which disclosed the truth in the massacre, and did away with the highest praises, grave as the situation was-and stupefying as your discovery was. In the end, you knew where I was, knew I was waiting for you. And to think goodbyes were never meant to be that difficult."

Kakashi felt his insides grow heavier. For a second, he thought he saw in Itachi the same old warmth he had loved, even a spark of his former humor. Thus he began to reason, in ways he never would have dared to on normal occasions.

"It's funny that you should call yourself such, when I'm the one who's been chasing after the night, hoping to find you there and not on this hill which is sacred to me. For years that's how I've been. You were always here, all along, and yet you never stopped to realize there was no longer a reason to be here, except to be killed by me. And I can't desecrate this place."

"Just like you, I'm not spilling blood on the soil you and I have sanctified. If that's the only reason why for so long you have refused to meet me here, it all simply lends truth to my suspicion that you don't have the heart to dispatch me to hereafter."

Itachi's stillness, and also the graveness that now surrounded him, must have been due to some illness contaminating his mortal body. For Kakashi, however, as what he was inclined to think, it was all reconciliatory to this sorrow now made finely transparent by what stood between them. This boy, this man, this mass murderer, once adored dearly by everyone, hadn't been exactly everything to him, but he could've loved him like that had time and circumstance permitted him so.

"This may sound a little too surprising, but, as a matter of fact, I do have the guts to take you out. Perhaps the only thing that's keeping me from it is this cruel, frightening knowledge that I can really kill you. I avoided running into you for countless times, only because I can take what little life you have left. And that would hurt me so, to an expanse you'll never understand."

Slowly over their heads there dropped a gulf of darkness which seemed to have lost its inane knowledge of space. Itachi ventured to survey the other's face, not knowing what to expect or see.

"Tell me, sempai, why didn't you say goodbye to me? Seven years ago I waited here, on this same spot, stood in the rain that washed away my bloodied hands. I reckoned your embrace would probably be my salvation, that after I received it I'd be able to move on and abide by my secrets until the end of the world. Well, I did move on, and still am abiding by what I know-except that, salvation didn't come. You never came, and I became this blood-soaked warrior whose dirt couldn't be rinsed out by the strongest storm. You could've braved the rain too and said goodbye to me."

"I was given a few hours to ponder on it through and through. Amidst the chaos, the news of your crime, I realized I could be the last thing on your mind. You did something terrible, and maybe brave, something I couldn't take part in. After years of approximation, I came up with this particular thought, a conclusion as explosive as the message brought forth by the tragedy of your clan. I think, and believe, it was all for the greater good. I have no intentions of prying the particulars from you, but you'd save me trouble if you smile for me now."

Itachi was sure he could feel the throb of the other's chest within him. He smiled his old smile, reserving his best smile for a later occasion, a reunion with the one most dear to him. Little by little, his mortal difficulties seemed to dissipate, before it collapsed in Kakashi's nearness.

"Sempai, watch over the host of the Nine-Tailed Fox, for there are a precious few heroes left. I was never among them. Maybe you'll be one, one of these days, if you're not already. And I'll make my brother one. Farewell."

"The only faculty your brother possesses still is the will to kill you. You do understand that meeting him would be the death of you, considering you do not have the heart to hurt him, don't you?"

"Don't worry. That one's on my list, too."

"This is goodbye, Itachi."

Gradually, all the stars were gone, and there remained one source of light only, Kakashi fancied, which was Itachi's face.

"It's strange that I should ask this of you." Itachi started, his eyes remote as much as they were pensive, "I thought I'd never leave this place every time we were together. So maybe it's only natural that I wish to stay here after my doom. Will you, sempai?"

Kakashi smiled bitterly, his gaze unbending, as though this response was something the earth naturally ordained. To him, the man before him was one breath short of an impossible apparition, so near yet altogether unattainable, just as what he had been on the night of the murder.

"Done. I suppose I'll bury you here after your business with Sasuke. With that, I won't fail to come to you again, and you'll never have to wait for nothing. You'll never go away anymore, and in return I'll give you all the goodbyes you shall need to make up for that mistake twenty-eight seasons ago. And lastly, may you forever stalk all the nights the world has to provide. Roam this plain for me for all time, Itachi, my Night Stalker."

**END**


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